Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall engaged in an incredibly long conversation with journalist Marie Hallman recently, and she posted the interview in two parts. As these didn't post until Sunday night and it's going to take a good chunk of Monday to try to try to get them decently translated into English (I'm going to have to just summarize Vladimir Havluj's interview with NHL.cz's Vaclav Jachim because Czech isn't my strong suit, and it's not-so-early on Monday morning already), I'll post the most important part first: Kronwall tells Hallman that his left knee, which the Wings chose not to operate on after the Wings were ousted by the San Jose Sharks, might yet require a clean-up surgery, and he's heading to Detroit early to have the Wings' doctors take a look at it:

August 22, Marie's Hockey Blogg (roughly translated): Marie Meets: Niklas Kronwall, part oneThis summer I haven't had the time to meet with many NHL player that I wanted to speak to this summer, but here's a interview, in any case, with one of my favorite players--Niklas Kronwall. He's a really good player who's also an unbelievably pleasant and humble man off the ice. [The interview] was a big long, so there are two parts--and this is the first:

Fifth after the regular season, and returned already to the Conference FInals

But when Niklas Kronwall wants to describe the past season, he says, without a doubt:

"A really shitty [one]!"

The requirements for Detroit are high, and they will remain with the team that the club has, states Kronwall.

That it went as it did was partially due wholly or partially injuries, but:

"We can't blame it all on injuries. We weren't sufficiently good enough, it's that simple," says the [hard-hitting] Detroit defenseman.

But the fact that they slipped out so early had benefits, Kronwall believes:

"Yes, this summer was really important for us. It was shitty that we slipped out as early as we did, but it wasn't just really negative. Now we've had a long summer to recover and rebuild ourselves. We've had little, short summers over the past few years, we've gotten spoiled with going long. Now hopefully everybody has trained and is ready to begin when the puck drops. Given the way the entirety of last season went, it won't go that way again.

What are your feelings about the season to come?

"I think it looks good in terms of the team. We get Jiri Hudler back and Mike Modano joined us, and he's played for a really long time, but he can still play at a high level. He comes into the team with fantastic leadership skills, and he's a guy who's been through it all and won it all himself So it looks good."

"On my part, however, it's not 100% good, unfortunately."

Niklas Kronwall was burdened with a persistent knee injury last season, and it hasn't quite healed.

He's received help from Djurgarden's medical team, specifically doctor Bengt Gustafsson and physiotherapist Christian Schumacher, and wants to thank them for their help.

"They've helped me fantastically well!" he says gratefully.

Do you think you'll need surgery now?

"I don't know, the knee's still not feeling quite 100% yet. I can keep going this way and there are some things that are more problematic than others. My knees feel a lot better than they were during the past spring, but they're still not as good as I think they should be."How are they hindering you?

"I don't have strength in certain situations, where I'm still [feeling pain]. We'll see how it it goes. There's a risk that I could go over [to Detroit] a bit earlier than usual. It's for the best to go through the situation with the doctors and the organization over there."

Who decides if there's an operation?

It's a joint decision. We have the same interest that I can play at a reasonably high level."

How long would you be out if there's an operation?

"I don't have an idea, but it would involve, for the most part, going in with a camera and looking how it looks, and having an MRI. It's not an unusual occurrence. And there are people who have it significantly worse [than I do]. I just have to listen to my body and then do what I can. Hopefully it'll loosen up in the next week or two," says Niklas Kronwall.